Aston Villa and FC Bayern only met once in the European Cup, with the underdogs from England winning in the national championship final in 1982. Bayern travel to the reunion 42 years later as favorites.
The decision: Peter White (far right) defeated Manfred Müller.
picture alliance / Peter Robinson
Six years after completing their Henkelpott hat-trick, FC Bayern reached for Europe’s crown again on May 26, 1982 in Rotterdam. Led by Paul Breitner, Kalle Rummenigge and Klaus Augenthaler, a win against the team from Birmingham was considered a foregone conclusion, which made the disappointment even greater after the 0-1 result with a goal from Peter White in the 67th minute.
FC Bayern vs Aston Villa
The Munich team played superiorly back then, missed a number of chances and more than deserved a win, similar to the “Finale Dahoam” in 2012 against Chelsea. Breitner ended his career a year later, Rummenigge moved to Inter Milan in 1984 and only suffered two final defeats (1987 and 1999) and 19 years later the pot ended up back in Bayern’s showcase.
To this day, it remained the English team’s only international title; they hardly appeared on the map of European football greats until Unai Emery breathed new life into them as a coach and the club now qualified for the Champions League.
Kane’s strong record at Villa Park
42 years after the final in Rotterdam, FC Bayern will travel to Birmingham again this Tuesday as favorites and will play at Villa Park for the first time. However, everyone in the traveling party should be aware that the game on Wednesday evening will not be a walk in the park. Villa have also made a decent start to this Premier League season and are in fifth place after a 2-2 draw at Ipswich Town at the weekend, two points behind league leaders Liverpool.
Bayern’s hope also rests on Harry Kane if he is fit to play after a painful blow to his ankle, which it looked like he would be at the weekend. Wearing the Tottenham Hotspur jersey, he was involved in seven goals in six competitive games at Villa Park, the 31-year-old scored five himself and prepared two.
It will be exciting to see which line-up Kompany chooses this English week, where, after the encouraging 1-1 draw in the top game against Leverkusen and the trip to England on Sunday, the next top game will take place at Eintracht Frankfurt. Will he once again put his trust in the supposedly best eleven or will he rotate gently? Kingsley Coman or Leroy Sané for Serge Gnabry would be an option, and Joao Palhinha is also waiting to play in midfield. What is much more important, however, is that from Bavaria’s perspective there should not be an outcome like 1982.
